The MexicoBlog of the CIP Americas Program monitors and analyzes international press on Mexico with a focus on the US-backed War on Drugs in Mexico and the struggle in Mexico to strengthen the rule of law, justice and protection of human rights. Relevant political developments in both countries are also covered.

Oct 12, 2011

U.S. - Mexico Relations: Ex-Mexico City mayor says U.S. must move relations past drug war

MiamiHerald.com: "Speaking just blocks from the White House, a fiery Mexican populist who narrowly lost his country's presidential election five years ago called Tuesday for a reboot of U.S.-Mexican relations, criticizing the Obama administration as failing to help immigrants and militarizing a historically strained bilateral relationship.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a former union leader and former mayor of Mexico City who's widely known by his initials, AMLO, called on Washington to "change priorities" and "substantially change" the way the two nations relate. He advocated direct economic development aid instead of the stepped-up military assistance the Obama administration has provided to combat drug trafficking.

... "In few words, the violence in Mexico (stems) fundamentally from the lack of development," he said, suggesting that the collapse of peasant farming and the lack of jobs leads young Mexicans into the drug trade or to emigrate in search of work north of the border."